From Fred Itua, Abuja
Some political leaders, who are members of Citizens Network for Peace and Development in Nigeria (CNPDN) have alleged plans by some aggrieved senators to create crisis in the 10th Senate.
National Secretary of the Forum, Francis Okereke Wainwei and other leaders, while addressing newsmen, called for calm, but vowed to expose the lawmakers if they pulled through with their threats.
They also called on the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio to intervene and facilitate a befitting burial for the late Joseph Wayas, senate president from 1979-1983.
“We are hereby appealing to Akpabio to intervene in the matter and resolve whatever challenges that have led to this unnecessary delay in giving our revered former Senate President a befitting burial.
“We are incurably optimistic that our uncommon transformational leader will heed our call and do the needful.”
On plans by aggrieved opposition senators to disturb the peace of the Senate, Wainwei said such moves would be counterproductive. He said the aggrieved senators were the ones that worked against the collective interest of the nation, when Akpabio was endorsed by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
The Bayelsa-born rights activist said the senators were the ones behind the candidature of Abdulaziz Yari for Senate president campaigns and activities and have vowed to continue pursuing their “unpatriotic, selfish and parochial interests by teaming up with the major opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), to frustrate the leadership of the 10th Senate, even after losing out in a free and fair elections conducted in the public glare at the Senate.”
He warned them to refrain from “distracting the leadership of the Senate and allow it to focus on working harmoniously with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to deliver quality and life-transforming projects and programmes to alleviate the pathetic plight of the long-suffering masses of this country. The era of politics is over and therefore, they should accept their defeat in good faith and give peace a chance.
“They can still contribute in enhancing the legislative process by making informed, robust and well-researched contributions on the floor of the Senate and In committee sessions, if their desire to take over the leadership of the Senate is purely a patriotic one.”
Zeroing in on the former governor of Sokoto State, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, the political leaders described him as a “desperate and serial political betrayer”, who frustrated Goodluck Jonathan as president and betrayed Tinubu in 2011 after he emerged Speaker of the House of Representatives.
“Tambuwal should not be allowed to emerge as the minority leader of the Senate because of his antecedents of selfish and acrimonious politics,” the leaders noted.
They said Tambuwal and some senators were trying to recreate the acrimonious relationships between the National Assembly